Progress Kentucky's Racism vs. Elaine Chao

Progress Kentucky, the Super PAC that is targeting Mitch McConnell, is simply disgusting. Its supporters are tweeting comments about Elaine Chao's ethnicity in a way that impugns her and McConnell's patriotism.  Elaine emigrated to America from  Taiwan when she was in third grade.

She and her family are living testaments to the American Dream.  She was the first Asian American to serve in a president's cabinet, where she served our country for eight years.

Progress Kentucky mocks her family for donating to McConnell's past campaigns, as if there is something evil about family members contributing to a brother in law or son in law.   Oh, I forget, the problem is They're Asian.  (Quick, hide, the Chinese are coming to get your job!).  It is filth that is beneath the dignity of any Kentuckian, and I will not link to it.

She and several of her sisters graduated from Harvard Business School  -- to which they have donated millions of dollars to honor their mother with a new building and endowment.

Anyone who has ever met Elaine can attest to her kindness, intellect, humility and deep faith. She is an extraordinary woman. I am proud she chooses to call Kentucky home.

As for Progress Kentucky and those of its followers responsible for the tweets at issue, I have to ask: are your mothers proud?

You Reap What you Sow.....

Attended a panel discussion on gun violence at St. Matthews Episcopal Church.  Panelists were Tom Wine, Commonwealth's Attorney, John Yarmuth, Congressman, and Donna Hargens, Superintendent of Jefferson County Public Schools.

I am going to go out on a limb and guess that most of the attendees were not NRA members.

Donna Hargens provided the most constructive input, talking about the importance of education in producing productive members of society that are less likely to be involved in gun related crimes.  Wine and Yarmuth mostly rehashed gun control advocate talking points, i.e., banning assault weapons, limiting magazine capacities and requiring background checks for private gun sales.

The thing about forums such as these that is frustrating is the extent to which so many people who oppose gun violence are the same people that advocate social policies that foster it.  Abortion on demand, welfare programs that encourage fathers to leave, prayer and religious influences prohibited in public spaces, social policy that demeans traditional marriage, the list goes on and on.  In the face of such public policy is it any wonder that we have more criminals and mentally unstable people using guns?   We have a government that has created social policy over the last 50 years that has resulted in a more violent, courser and less compassionate citizenry.

Most gun control advocates need to look at their politics if they want to see why gun violence is rampant.  Want less gun violence?  Work to return our society to normalcy.

Sen. John Hoeven Delivers Weekly GOP Address

Mitch as Movie Star?....

If Mitch McConnell has to have a challenger in the next election, let us hope and pray that it is Ashley Judd.

Ashley Judd has as much chance of becoming a senator from Kentucky as Mitch McConnell has of becoming a movie star.

John David Dyche. C-J Story Goes National

Breitbart is reporting on the Courier-Journal's shabby treatment of John David Dyche, the lone conservative columnist for that paper who recently quit in protest of its censorship.

For those who continue to subscribe to the C-J just for the sports coverage, here's what you've been missing on the other pages:

Since the election in November, the newspaper’s editorial board has called for Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to resign as Senate Minority Leader and accused McConnell of being the target of “national ridicule,” and run comics depicting McConnell consigned to the flames of hell; it has suggested that Senate Republicans “smacked down the disabled of this country and the world.”

It's true that traditional media are struggling to compete with the convenience of digital media.  Still, the C-J's dwindling circulation -- and attendant mass lay-offs -- are exacerbated by its lurch to left.  It's always been a liberal paper, but depicting our senior Senator, of whom many Kentuckians are very proud, in the flames of hell crosses the line.

Paying that subscription fee to the C-J feels like writing a check to the Democratic Party. 

This paper that demands campaign finance laws to inhibit corporations from making political donations is itself a corporation that makes political donations every day -- in the form of favorable coverage for its chosen "progressives" and smear jobs on conservatives.  Likewise, this paper that demands transparency for everyone else refuses to make the modest changes John David Dyche called for to increase transparency.  The C-J's hypocrisy is boundless.

Conservatives should stop subsidizing it.  

C-J Loses John David Dyche

Those philosopher kings at the C-J must have a deep longing for early retirement, or irrelevancy.  They have refused to publish John David Dyche's weekly column -- his best ever -- because it called the paper out for its liberal bias.  Apparently, this column struck too close to home.

For example, JDD suggested that if the paper really supports transparency, how about it live stream its editorial meetings, and release the party registration of its editors and writers.  Scrutiny and transparency for thee, but not me, pronounces the Courier-Journal.

Rather than take to heart some suggestions for improving the paper, or at least letting the column run, it was much easier to tell JDD that this week's column was off-topic, and will not appear. (And in a voice mail:  classy!)

That gave the one token conservative no choice but to resign. John David could not be expected to write with the boldness that has characterized his column, while knowing that Pam Platt stood ready to censor him when he offended the powers that be at the C-J. That would have been an intolerable situation, and he was right to quit.

So much for speaking truth to power.

Mandy Connell has the column in question, JDD's response and the transcript of the voice mail from Pam Platt, informing JDD that she had decided not to run the column.  Mandy will interview John David Monday morning.

John David was too good for that rag. We hear that Insider Louisville would love to publish him (so would we!) and wish him all the best.

Sen. Rand Paul Gives Major Foreign Policy Address

Sen. Rand Paul spoke today at the Heritage Foundation for 25 minutes on "Restoring the Founders' Vision of Foreign Policy."  His staff had promoted this speech for several days, and Paul did not disappoint.  The title, however, was somewhat misplaced.  There were passing references to Washington and Madison, but the real intellectual force behind the speech was George Kennan.

Kennan was the "father of containment"  -- the doctrine that guided U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War. Paul's premise is that Radical Islam is analogous to Soviet Communism and should similarly be treated with a policy of containment.

Radical Islam, like Communism during the Cold War, requires a "far-reaching and patient response,"  according to Paul. The U.S. needs a "middle path" that is not appeasement but does not bomb countries based on "what they might do."

Containment offers this middle path, Paul explained, because it is neither solely diplomacy nor solely the use of military force, and because containment distinguishes between America's "vital and peripheral interests."

Paul described Radical Islam's only strength as -- like the Soviet Union -- it's endless patience. Some libertarians argue that western occupying forces fan the flames of Radical Islam.  Paul said he agrees with that, but that it does not follow that Radical Islam will go away when the occupying forces leave. This is true, Paul said, because Radical Islam is a "relentless force," not a "fleeting fad."

Perhaps the most important moment of the speech, at leas for a possible Paul presidential candidacy, was when Paul stated that when it comes to foreign policy, "I am a realist, not a neo-conservative nor an isolationist."  As a result of his "realist" framework, Paul says he sees the world as it is, not as we wish it might be.

Paul pointed to Reagan as the best example of a foreign policy that is "robust, but also restrained."  Reagan recognized the advantage of "strategic ambiguity."  Paul argued that it is in America's interest that our enemies be "uncertain."  Reagan resorted to force less often than the presidents who came before him or after him.  Reagan was able to minimize the use of force by keeping our enemies guessing.  Thus, military force should be on the table (as with Iran's nuclear plans) but diplomacy should also be used.

Paul argued for a foreign policy that respects the Constitution and also respects fiscal discipline.  The Framers recognized that the Executive Branch is most prone to go to war; that's why the Constitution vests the power to declare war in the Legislative Branch.  But the Congress has failed to police that power.  Consequently, when it comes to the use of American's military might "Congress has become not even a rubber stamp, but an irrelevancy." Paul said that some Senators have told him that Congress can restrain the Executive Branch's use of force by exercising the "power of the purse."  That doesn't work, Paul responded, because funds will never be cut when U.S. boots are already on the ground. Congress therefore needs to debate, and if appropriate, declare war, beforehand.

It was a thoughtful, well-delivered speech.  Coupled with Paul's recent trip to Israel and his new committee assignment on Senate Foreign Relations, Paul is establishing that he can influence more than domestic fiscal issues. In short, this was the address of someone who plans to run for president as a serious candidate, not a gadfly.  The speech reassured that the foreign policy of a Paul presidency would be neither neo-con nor isolationist, but rather a foreign policy that respects our Constitution and still provides for the common defense.

McConnell Seated With Carter for Inaugural Lunch

Someone on the Inaugural Committee, or perhaps in the White House, figured out a way to torture Mitch McConnell. He and Secretary Chao will be seated with former President Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalyn at the lunch in  the Capitol following the ceremonial swearing-in.

This has to be excruciating for McConnell. The whole day will be a constant reminder that our team lost.  Sitting with the second worst president in the nations's history just makes it worse.

McConnell  did not overlap with Carter.  So there isn't any bad blood, just acute ideological differences.

Plainly, they can't talk politics. Religion  and sex would not work;  we don't want Carter to recall when he lusted in his heart.

Here's a topic.  McConnell can ask Carter if he has been attacked by any swimming rabbits lately!

Boehner Reelected; Massie Votes Against

Rep. John Boehner has just been reelected House Majority Leader, but not unanimously.  Nine Republicans did not vote for him, including newly-sworn in Rep. Thomas Massie from Kentucky's 4th Congressional District.  Massie voted for Rep. Justin Amish  (R-MI).

The lack of unanimity for Boehner is fall-out for the Fiscal Cliff deal and the fact that it raised taxes on the so-called rich but failed to achieve any spending cuts at present.

McConnell on the Deal and What's Next

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has an op-ed on Yahoo! News regarding the deal he negotiated to prevent taxes going up on all Americans. Note his choice of New Media for its publication; no point in writing free copy for the opposition media.

McConnell makes clear that there will be no further discussion regarding taxes.  That issue is off the table.  He will focus, with his famed discipline and relentlessness, on spending.

The link to his op-ed is not working at the moment, so I have cut and pasted it in its entirety:

The first day of a new Congress always represents a fresh start. This year, it also presents a perfect opportunity to tackle the single-greatest challenge facing our nation: reining in the out-of-control federal spending that threatens to permanently alter our economy and dim the prospects and opportunities of future generations of Americans.

Earlier this week, I helped negotiate an imperfect solution aimed at avoiding the so-called “fiscal cliff.” If I had my way taxes would not have gone up on anyone, but the unavoidable fact was this if we had sat back and done nothing taxes would have gone up dramatically on every single American, and I simply couldn’t allow that to happen.

By acting, we’ve shielded more than 99% of taxpayers from a massive tax hike that President Obama was all-too willing to impose. American families and small businesses that would have seen painfully smaller paychecks and profits this month have been spared. Retirement accounts for seniors won’t be whittled down by a dramatic increase in taxes on investment income. And many who’ve spent a lifetime paying taxes on income and savings won’t be slammed with a dramatically higher tax on estates.

Was it a great deal? No. As I said, taxes shouldn’t be going up at all. Just as importantly, the transcendent issue of our time, the spiraling debt, remains completely unaddressed. Yet now that the President has gotten his long-sought tax hike on the “rich,” we can finally turn squarely toward the real problem, which is spending.

Predictably, the President is already claiming that his tax hike on the “rich” isn’t enough. I have news for him: the moment that he and virtually every elected Democrat in Washington signed off on the terms of the current arrangement, it was the last word on taxes. That debate is over. Now the conversation turns to cutting spending on the government programs that are the real source of the nation’s fiscal imbalance. And the upcoming debate on the debt limit is the perfect time to have that discussion.

We simply cannot increase the nation’s borrowing limit without committing to long overdue reforms to spending programs that are the very cause of our debt.

The only way to achieve the balance the President claims to want is by cutting spending. As he himself has admitted, no amount of tax hikes or revenue could possibly keep up with the amount of money Washington is projected to spend in the coming years. At some point, high taxes become such a drag on the economy that the revenue stalls.

While most Washington Democrats may want to deny it, the truth is, the only thing we can do to solve the nation’s fiscal problem is to tackle government spending head on — and particularly, spending on health care programs, which appear to take off like a fighter jet on every chart available that details current trends in federal spending.

The President may not want to have a fight about government spending over the next few months, but it’s the fight he is going to have, because it’s a debate the country needs. For the sake of our future, the President must show up to this debate early and convince his party to do something that neither he nor they have been willing to do until now. Over the next two months they need to deliver the same kind of bipartisan resolution to the spending problem we have now achieved on revenue — before the 11th hour.

When it comes to spending, the time has come to rise above the special interest groups that dominate the liberal wing of the Democratic Party in Washington and act, without drama or delay. The President likes to say that most Americans support tax hikes on the rich. What he conveniently leaves out is that even more Americans support cuts. That’s the debate the American people really want. It’s a debate Republicans are ready to have. And it’s the debate that starts today, whether the President wants it or not.

McConnell Was Brilliant to Hire Jesse Benton

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's decision to hire Jesse Benton as his campaign manager already is paying off. Benton's Tea Party bona fides could not be stronger, as a former campaign manager of the Pauls.

To those Tea Party patriots who are displeased with McConnell's role in negotiating the compromise to the Fiscal Cliff, Benton reassures.  For some, the deal McConnell struck looks suspect because it does raise taxes on couples above $450k without really generating much revenue -- and without immediate cuts.

This tax increase, indeed, any tax increase, exposes McConnell on his right flank.  That's why Benton's explanation of the strategy behind the deal is so important, particularly with respect the bifurcated approach to making tax rates permanent so that this issue will be off the table when the negotiating turns to the debt limit:

I have had the honor of working for some leaders I could really be proud to stand with. And let me tell you, I have never been more proud of a boss than I am of Senator McConnell right now. Let me tell you why. When Barack Obama won re-election in November, Obama decided he was willing to force the country off the fiscal cliff to push through his agenda.  The result would be the largest tax increase in American history. Unless Congress took action, everyone’s taxes were going up January 1st, big time. Middle class families across Kentucky and our country would have seen their first paychecks on January 15th literally hundreds of dollars smaller due to new federal income tax withholding. I don’t know about you, but as a middle class working man raising a young family, I can ill afford Barack Obama reaching deeper into my pockets, and I’ll bet just about every Kentuckian feels the same way. In the end, there is only one reason why Kentucky taxpayers avoided these tax hikes: Senator Mitch McConnell. For two months, well-intentioned allies in the fight for smaller government attempted to thwart President Obama’s plan. But it wasn’t until Leader McConnell took the reins that real progress was made. He showed the strong, disciplined and savvy leadership that only he can provide. And, in the end, he ensured that over 99% percent of Kentuckians will not pay higher income taxes. What’s also important to know is that he has put us on strong footing in the fight to cut spending. You see, the fiscal cliff was a two-part problem, one of both taxes and spending. Leader McConnell wisely separated the two to put us on stronger footing in both. First he fought off President Obama’s tax hikes for as many Kentuckians as he could. Now comes part two. In order to keep spending, Congress must raise the federal debt limit in two months. Through his leadership, Senator McConnell has not only ensured that your taxes will not go up, he has taken the threat of income tax hikes totally off table for debt limit negotiations. Now, President Obama and his allies will not be able to threaten every American with higher taxes as we fight for spending restraint and entitlement reform. And let me tell you, I know Senator McConnell will be as rock solid and resolute in that fight as he was in protecting our paychecks. Senator McConnell is a special leader and we can all be proud of what he just did for us. I hope you will stand with him now and in the coming months. If you are able, please help with a contribution of $50, $100, $250 or even $500 today. If we come together and stand with Leader McConnell, we can get this country back on track. So, make sure to forward this email to your friends and neighbors to let them know that Mitch McConnell just saved their paychecks. Help us spread the word Facebook and Twitter. And please, if you can, help us with your generous contribution right away.       Help make a difference Join the fight for real conservative change in Washington!

Let's Go Cliff Diving!

I have tried to ignore this story as part of my post-election funk, but now it can no longer be avoided. So here's my take.

I don't care if we go over the so-called Fiscal Cliff. In fact, I think it is preferable to many of the alternatives being kicked around.

Republicans need to hold fast to the first principle that raising taxes on anyone will hurt the economy
This is particularly true when the taxpayer is also an employer.

If taxes are to go up, they should go up on everyone.  Yes, even those making less than $250k.  While  we are at it, let's get rid of income tax credits that allow a large chunk of the population to pay nothing whatsoever.  Let the working poor pay some nominal amount so that they have some skin in the game.

This is the only way that Americans can internalize or even comprehend the true cost of the behemoth government that at present, somebody else is paying for.  Once big government is no longer free, smaller government will look better and better to more of the electorate.  This is the only way Republicans can win.

Going over the Fiscal Cliff, of course, has other consequences, but they are not insurmountable,

You don't like the price of milk doubling? Welcome to the world of government interfering with free markets.

Unemployment benefits would end.  That is certainly a frightening prospect for many.  But truth be told, unemployment is designed to be temporary; these benefits have been extended so many times that they have morphed into welfare. We need to be honest about this fact.

The military will face cuts. Republicans need to acknowledge that there is plenty of fat in the Department of Defense budget.  Our focus should not be on protecting the Pentagon from cuts but rather to make the cuts in the right places.

While we are at it, i like Sen. Rand Paul's idea of cutting aid to countries who want to destroy us. And it's time to resurrect Ronald Reagan's idea that whole federal departments need to be cut, from the cabinet level on down; just abolish them.  Reagan singled out the Departments of Energy and Education; we should look critically at each department to make sure that it serves a function that only the federal government can do.

This will hurt the booming housing market in the District of Columbia -- as with the Hunger Games, things are different in the Capitol --but for most of America, the absence of these bureaucracies will make little difference.

Will going over the Fiscal Cliff hurt?  Yes, it will be brutal.  So is having one's wisdom teeth removed. The pain we will experience if allow taxes to go up on everyone is nothing compared to the pain we can forestall by finally reducing the size of government.

Sen. Roy Blunt Gives Weekly GOP Address

Sen. Roy Blunt n (R-MO) gives this week's Republican address. (Click here to watch.)  His tone on the Fiscal Cliff -- and the possibility of real reform -- is somewhat upbeat, certainly more so than I am.

Here's a sad little factoid from Blunt's speech:  if Obama gets to raise taxes on the top two percent of Americans, that additional revenue will only fund the government for eight days.

The Vanquished

Many Republicans these days are whining and moaning about the way things are going.  They have been defeated and they just do not know what to do.

Republicans should be elated!  In times of old, the victors would have done really bad things to us.  All the Democrats are going to do is raise our taxes and take some of our guns.  We should be thankful that they haven't pillaged our homes, plundered our possessions and put us into slavery.  Cheer up Republicans, it's not so bad.

R.I.P. Robert Bork

I was sad to hear that Judge Robert Bork has died.  What a brilliant jurist and legal scholar. Our country lost out when the Left denied him his rightful seat on the Supreme Court.

The smear campaign that Democrats turned against him was a turning-point for us as a country. The Senate hearings on Bork's nomination and the ensuing spin and coverage,  this was the moment when honor ceased to matter, when any personal attack no matter how baseless became acceptable to Democrats.

What must that have felt like to him, that campaign to keep Bork off the Court at all costs?  What did it feel like to see one's last name become a verb?

Though he never got to sit on the Supreme Court, Bork continued to influence a generation of conservatives.  He was a frequent presence at Federalist Society events and always happy to sign a pocket constitution. Many of his former clerks from the D.C. Circuit carry on his legacy today as conservatives scholars in the Academy, out-numbered but holding their own by sheer intellect.

His books, Slouching Toward Gomorrah and The Tempting of America are must reads for anyone who cares about the rule of law, even non-lawyers.  His many law review articles reminded and encouraged conservative law students that the dribble we were taught by so many left-wing ideologues was not Gosepel; Bork pointed out the weaknesses in liberal legal orthodoxy and gave us the counter-arguments.

As Hot Air notes, the ultimate irony about the timing of Bork's passing is that had he been confirmed to the Supreme Court, Obama would have had the opportunity to nominate a liberal to replace a conservative, thereby shifting the Court to the left.

As we give thanks for the life of this great patriot, let's also pray for the health and safety of Justices Scalia, Thomas and Kennedy.  Live long and prosper!

Barr. Massie Get Committee Assignments

The newest members of Kentucky's Congressional Delegation, Andy Barr and Thomas Massie, just received their assignments to Committees for the House of Representatives.

Congressman-elect Barr will sit on the House Financial Services Committee.  This is considered a top tier committee and is a good fit for Barr's legal background. Barr indicated that he will focus on this committee on freeing from community banks from regulations that inhibit job creation.

Congressman-elect Massie will sit on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the Committee on Government Reform and the Committee on Science, Space and Technology. The first committee, Transportation and Infrastructure, makes sense given that the bridge across the Ohio River on which Obama did his big photo op is located in Massie's district.  The later committee suits Massie's background as an MIT grad; I'll bet he has lots of sources to draw upon for Science, Space and Technology.

The 113th Congress convenes on January 3, 2013.

Run, Ashley, Run!

NRO is right:  Ashley Judd can fulfill the Christmas wish of Kentucky Republicans by running for U.S. Senate against Mitch McConnell.

The draft Ashley for Senate is the brain-child, to use the term loosely, of Congressman John Yarmuth, who has taken passive-aggressiveness to a new low.

Recall when McConnell spoke at the Kentucky Farm Bureau Ham Breakfast at the State Fair; the entire Kentucky delegation stood up for McConnell -- except Yarmuth.

Yarmuth, back when he was a Republican, was once friends with McConnell.  And his father was one of McConnell's early backers. Over the passage of time, however, Yarmuth has lurched to the left and McConnell has become Leader of his party.

Yarmuth's envy is palpable.

He is desperate to see McConnell defeated, but doesn't have the guts to run himself (because he knows McConnell would clobber him).

So he's looking for a proxy:  Ashley Judd.

NRO lists all the zainy things Judd has said over the years.  The political ads practically write themselves.

Take her stance on coal, for instance:

“It’s important that those of us fighting the coal companies stick together,” she said, according to the Washington Examiner.  “Because they make me feel absolutely and totally crazy.” She also touted The Green Collar Economy, the book written by none other than former Obama administration official Van Jones.

Yarmuth and Judd don't seem to notice that Democrat Congressman Ben Chandler, after January, will be called former Congressman.  He lost because of his opposition to the coal industry.  That was the issue that turned around Andy Barr's campaign and propelled Barr to a comfortable victory.

As a result, Yarmuth is now the only Democrat in Kentucky's Congressional delegation.  A run by Ashley Judd will assure that his status as the lone Kentucky Democrat in Washington will not change -- unless Republicans can find someone to run against him.

Rand Paul on DeMint

For Sen. Rand Paul, Sen. DeMint's leaving the Senate must be particularly poignant:  DeMint was an early supporter or and mentor to Paul, and even backed Paul in the Republican primary.

Paul and DeMint (with Sen. Mike Lee) also have the bond of founding the Tea Party Caucus in the U.S. Senate.  That was no easy thing to do.  Aside from grumbling within their own party, the Tea Party Caucus faced institutional challenges the likes of which one would associate with Junior High.  As Sen. Paul told me at the Louisville Federalist Society luncheon last February, the Democrats literally locked the door on the conference room so that the Tea Party Caucus could not meet.

Here's Paul's statement:

I want to congratulate Senator Jim DeMint on becoming president of Heritage.  We will miss his strong voice for the Constitution in the Senate, but I believe that his voice will still resonate throughout the country. He leaves the Senate with more constitutional conservatives than when he came, and those of us he helped are forever grateful. Because of Senator DeMint’s tireless efforts there now is a significant voice for Liberty in the U.S. Senate. 

McConnell on Jim DeMint's Resignation

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell had the following reaction to the resignation of Sen. Jim DeMint, who is leaving to head the Heritage Foundation:

I thank Senator DeMint for his uncompromising service to South Carolina and our country in the United States Senate. Jim helped provide a powerful voice for conservative ideals in a town where those principles are too often hidden beneath business as usual.  There is no question in my mind that he raised the profile of important issues like spending and debt and helped galvanize the American people against a big government agenda. I am confident that he will continue to advocate for conservative principles in the next chapter of his service to the American people.


Conservatives are losing the battle of ideas, pure and simple.  This is not just a question of messaging (although we could do much better there, as well).  Conservative think-tanks, writers and citizens need to get creative about how to offer real alternatives to government dependency.  We need to make the case for market-based alternatives to hand-outs and paternalism. 

DeMint brings the creativity and energy to once again make the Republican Party the party of ideas.  

As for the Senate, someone else will be appointed to take over his job, but he will not be replaced. 

Too Many Bureaucrats to Count

This past weekend at the Federalist Society National Convention in Washington, I became aware that some (who knows how many?) political appointees from the Bush administration are still on the government payroll.

One man, who works for one those cabinet-level departments that many conservatives would abolish, was appointed as Schedule C political appointee. After Obama's inauguration, this Republican expected that someone would thank him for his service and show him the door.

It never happened.

Four years later, the Obama appointees assume that he is a fellow "progressive" -- because he has been there so long.  Consequently, he hears candid discussions among Democrat political appointees.   For example, he knew, in advance, that the labor statistics before the Election would understate unemployment by not counting California's numbers.

That's the back-drop for the Fiscal Cliff negotiations:  we have so many people on the Federal payroll that people can get lost, for years.